Annual inflation rate rises

Annual inflation as of October increased by one percentage point to 3.4 percent, while monthly inflation increased to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent. This is according to the figures released yesterday by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA).

The increase in monthly inflation was fuelled by increases in prices on items in the categories of food and non-alcoholic beverages, where there was an increase from 0.4 to 0.8 percent, a 0.5 percent increase in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, as well as an increase from a minus 0.2 percent to 0.5 in the health category and by an increase from minus 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent in the hotels, cafes and restaurants category.

During the period October 2014 to October 2015, the annual inflation rate fluctuated between 5.0 and 2.9 percent – with the highest annual inflation rate of 5.0 percent observed in October and November 2014 and the lowest (2.9 percent) registered in April 2015.

The moderate rise in annual rate of inflation during October was driven by the sub-categories in the inflation basket, which were “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” that increased from 5.7 to 6.4 percent, as well as “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” that increased from 2.3 to 2.8 percent. Health costs increased from 5.4 to 5.8 percent, while hotels, cafés and restaurants” increased from 5.9 to 6.4 percent.

The annual inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages for October stood at 6.4 percent, a 0.7 percentage points increase from the 5.7 percent recorded in September 2015. This increase emanated from the sub-categories of “sugar, jam, honey, syrups, chocolate and confectionery (10.5 percent), fruit (9.8 percent); meat (6.9 percent), coffee, tea and cocoa (6.7 percent), bread, cereals, and food products (6.5 percent each). The monthly inflation rate for the last-mentioned category stood at 0.8 percent as compared to 0.4 percent recorded the previous month.

The annual inflation rate for the transport category stood at -2.4 percent in October 2015, representing a decrease of 4.6 percentage point over the month of September 2015, which recorded a rate of -2.2 percent. This decrease was brought about by a decline in the level of prices of goods and services in the category of “Operation of personal transport equipment”.

The monthly and annual inflation rates for “Goods” were 0.3 and 3.6 percent while “Services” stood at 0.03 and 3.0 percent respectively. Corresponding rates recorded during the same period the previous year stood at 0.2 and 5.9 percent, as well as 0.0 and 3.8 percent respectively.
Inflation on medical products, appliances and equipment increased from 5.0 to 6.0 percent.